Marie Parks (she/her)

Get more from Piper J. Drake on Patreon creating fiction, non-fiction, podcasts, vlogs, etc.

Please take 5 minutes to help the brilliant @piperjdrake.bsky.social. Medical costs are piling up on top of the devastating emotional toll of cancer and chemo. She deserves for her words to be read. If you can, support her Patreon, buy her books, anything you can do! www.patreon.com/piperjdrake

I ALSO REALLY LOVE IT! And the fact that you made the rings yourself, whatttttt so cool, my friend!

LOVED this story.

My next author email comes out Thursday AM. It includes some fun character art by @rochellesanch.bsky.social, a save-the-date for my book signing with @maryrobinettekowal.com @davering.bsky.social and @tangentgeoff.bsky.social, and some behind-the-scenes extras! Sign up: www.marieparks.com/contact/

Thank you for your kind words!! I'm so glad you enjoyed it!

No more touchy! All done! :D

The blurb says, "This was the book I needed. The fun, heisty bits create a tasty coating for real conversations about revolution. Intimate, sweeping, and fully of flight." - Mary Robinette Kowal, USA TODAY bestselling author of The Calculating Stars

Flightless has been sent to the printer by @apbooks.bsky.social! It's surreal to be DONE with this story about striving and navigating an unjust world. It invites us to ask what possibilities we can create if we release the dregs society offers. I was graced with a blurb by @maryrobinettekowal.com

I use music and body doubling through your Make Me Write sessions or Storytime with @sandratayler.bsky.social. And when body doubling isn't available, I search on Twitch or YouTube for someone hosting live coworking. I'm also trying out Spirit City on Steam for pretend-body doubling.

I'm on the website!! www.apbooks.net/product-page... Woohoo!

This is so cool! #preorder Flightless and let Marie know and get STICKERS!

Flightless comes out on April 7!

In a world where those with wings have all the power, Riff's flightless crew takes on a heist to save their skins—and shake up the city’s oppressive classist hierarchy.

A hand holding up a sticker sheet. The title "Flightless" is at the top, and the background is a hand-drawn map of a fantasy city. On the sticker sheet are eight characters' portraits, displaying a variety of genders, complexions, and expressions.

If you preorder a copy of Flightless and DM me your receipt and a good address, I'll snail mail you this lovely sticker sheet and a signed bookplate! Art by the amazing @rochellesanch.bsky.social who is open for commissions, btw! Get the book at marieparks.com/flightless

#aroawarenessweek #aromaincharacter #aromanticmaincharacter #aromanticbook #arobook #aroacecharacter #aroace

Over a background of the Aromantic Pride flag, a postcard of the main character of Flightless with an envelope that says "Happy Aromantic Spectrum Awareness Week from Riff"

Happy #aromanticspectrumaawarenessweek from Riff, the protagonist of Flightless! Coming soon to a bookstore near you--preorder this fantasy heist from @apbooks.bsky.social before April 7.

It's super good and so innovative!

Please call your House reps to demand they reject the SAVE Act. This is urgent and horrifying. I've been watching this bill for months with dread... and here we are.

I got a chance to beta read this book, and it's super fun!

I love that! Very innovative!

Aaaaaah thank you so much, my friend!

Thank you so much!

Thank you!! Kudos to @sumrow.bsky.social !

You're the freaking best.

That's entirely fair.

Working on this shift for a client right now. It's going fairly smoothly, and I'm looking at doing it for my personal stuff, too. The only hiccup has been that Google Docs doesn't play nicely with Proton, and my whole life is in Docs. So... I need to probably just accept that it will be a bit tough.

Finally, Flightless is set in the city of Quilia, a bay-side town with steep cliffs, towers, and oppressive humidity. John did a beautiful job of capturing it.

Huge thanks to @sumrow.bsky.social and @apbooks.bsky.social for the chance to work with them on this heartfelt novel.

These figures are higher than Riff, which is such a beautiful, subtle nod to the hierarchy.

Riff is deeply impoverished, and John allowed this character detail to show up in his clothing.

I also love the knife-in-boot situation—such a classic fantasy rogue look.

Getting his glidesheaths (parts of his body that allow him to glide—imagine a base jumper) right seemed to me like it must have been a challenge, but @sumrow.bsky.social nailed it.

There are two upper-class winged Divians flying in the backdrop.

In the world of Flightless, society is stratified by one’s ability to stay in the air. Those with wings—Divians—are in the top echelon. Those who have no ability to leave the ground (who look just like us) are groundbound, and they are the lowest caste.

Riff is in the middle, as a glider.

Cover of Flightless: Riff is front and center. He is a man with "glidesheaths"--flaps of skin extending from his arms and sides to help him glide. And he's showing off, gliding through the air. He wears a red hood and brown tattered clothing with patches galore and a knife in his boot. In the background is a beautiful sunset sky and a few "Divians" or flyers--people with wings. Below him is the City of Quilia, a town with red roofs and towers abutting a bay of blue water.

BEHOLD! The absolutely stunning cover art for Flightless, my solo-written debut, is here. I'm so excited to share my social justice fantasy heist with y'all. @sumrow.bsky.social absolutely killed the artwork. Some details I particularly love are in the comments.

Flightless by @marieparks.bsky.social is coming in April from @apbooks.bsky.social ! If you like fantasy, if you like heists, if you like charming scoundrels, if you like common people sticking it to rich a-holes, you owe it to yourself to pre-order here www.marieparks.com/order-flight...

@kevin-mack.bsky.social was one of my ABSOLUTELY INVALUABLE alpha readers and is thanked multiple times in the back matter of this book. (So if you don't like Flightless, it's at least 1% his fault, I suspect.😆) Thank you so much for the generous words, my friend!